Government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis, it seems, cannot issue a statement about the president’s activities or statements without inflating its importance. Everything has to be significant, important, unprecedented, historic, emblematic or a landmark. Does he not trust the people to make up their own minds, feeling he needs to provide them with guidance on how to perceive the government’s actions?

On Tuesday, he released a written statement about President Nikos Christodoulides’ trip to London to meet Cypriots working there and persuade them to return to Cyprus. He said “the president departs this afternoon for London, marking the start of the emblematic campaign for the repatriation of talent to Cyprus ‘Minds in Cyprus,’ with the first event taking place in the United Kingdom tomorrow.”

This was “an initiative of strategic importance, that is placed in the nucleus for government planning for the transition of our country into a new productive model: the economy of knowledge, with an emphasis on utilising the scientific and professional capital of the Cypriot diaspora.” He added: “The initiative Minds in Cyprus marks the start of a coordinated national effort: to transform the brain drain into the return of prospects, utilising the valuable human reserves of our country.”

Is Letymbiotis incapable of speaking without pompousness? Can he not just stick to the facts and give straight account of what the president will do, instead of always being at pains to make everything sound much more important than it is? The president’s idea offering incentives to UK-based Cypriots with good professional qualifications to return to Cyprus is a commendable initiative and will not be more effective by Letymbiotis describing it as “emblematic” and of “strategic importance.”

He could have focused on the great interest shown in the event, which was beyond the government’s expectations. The original venue had to be abandoned and a bigger one found given the interest shown by people in attending. There will be two thematic round-table discussions, said Letymbiotis, while “an open dialogue with questions by participants to the President of the Republic.”

We hope the dialogue will not be one-way, the president and his entourage asking participants what is important to them and what would persuade them to give up well-paid and rewarding jobs in the UK to return to Cyprus. This should have happened before the incentives package was formulated by the government, but if it wasn’t it is necessary that it takes place during the gathering at the Guildhall.

So far, we have only heard the government spokesman praising the president’s emblematic initiative, the incentives offered, the transition of Cyprus into a digital paradise, etc. But had any dialogue with UK-based Cypriots preceded the formulation of the incentives package? Had the government tried to find out what was important to the people it is targeting and what would persuade them to return? We suspect it is more than tax breaks, and the government needs to find out if the initiative is to be effective as well as emblematic.